Taunton City Council extends emergency services agreement with tribe

Wednesday

Oct 11, 2017 at 12:21 PMOct 11, 2017 at 12:38 PM

Charles Winokoor Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter @cwinokoor

TAUNTON — The 151-acre site of the stalled Mashpee Wampanoag resort casino project in East Taunton will continue to be accessible to police, fire and emergency medical services — at least for the next six months.

The Taunton City Council, on the recommendation of City Solicitor Jason D. Buffington, voted unanimously Tuesday night to extend a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the tribe, so that those first responders continue to have legal access to the land.

The barren Stevens Street site has been fenced off and devoid of construction activity since a federal judge in 2016 ruled in favor of 25 plaintiffs — who challenged the federal Department of the Interior and its 2015 decision to place the Taunton land and 170 acres in Mashpee “in trust” as Indian reservation territory.

The Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has described the First Light Resort & Casino as a $1 billion project that would create at least 2,500 full-time and part-time permanent jobs and hundreds of construction jobs.

It also, once the casino opens for business, would provide an annual payment of $8 million to Taunton in lieu of taxes, as per a prior “inter-governmental agreement” between the tribe and city.

The project, if it comes to fruition, will be funded by Genting Group of Malaysia.

Buffington, in his letter to the city council, states that the current appeal by the tribe of the judge’s decision has yet to be decided by the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals.

He also notes that the federal judge in 2016 did not order the land be taken out of trust.

This is the fourth extension of the MOU since the initial agreement between the city and tribe in November 2015.

Buffington in his letter wrote that it serves the best interest of the city to be “crystal clear that public safety personnel have the authority to enter and take action upon the subject land.”

Assistant city solicitor Daniel de Abreu said the extension simply guarantees, in the event of an emergency situation, that police, fire and ambulance services not be hampered in performing their essential duties.

Buffington also noted his office has been “informed by legal counsel for the Tribe that it (Mashpee Wampanoag) has already approved and signed the fourth (MOU) amendment.”

City Councilor David Pottier, during Tuesday’s hearing, asked Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. whether the tribe is “current on its PILOT,” which stands for payment in lieu of taxes.

Hoye assured Pottier that the tribe has kept current with that obligation.

Until such time that the casino opens for business the tribe must pay the city the equivalent amount of the property’s assessed value.

Pottier was the only councilor in 2012 to oppose the city’s IGA with the tribe. He argued that the city deserved a more generous annual payment than the amount promised by the agreement.

The tribe in 2015 paid $34.5 million to former owners of land and buildings on the site of the future casino and hotel complex.